N.C. Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Crystal Feldman said Wednesday that a captain and four nurses at Alexander Correctional Institution had been fired following the March 12 death of inmate Michael Anthony Kerr. A nurse and a staff psychologist resigned in the midst of the investigation.

The 53-year-old Kerr was found unresponsive in the back of a van after being driven from Alexander to the mental hospital at Central Prison in Raleigh.

Kerr's sister, Brenda Liles, told The Associated Press last week she had repeatedly called prison officials in the days before her brother's death trying to get him help.